Friday, April 15, 2005

Sen. Allen and his paintbrush

These two articles from the New York Times and the Washington Post explain how Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is in a no-win situation regarding the judicial nominations. If he doesn't exercise the "nuclear option" of "busting up" the Democrat's filibuster, he's going to be fileted over a spit by far-right wing Conservatives. If he does act, he risks a violent backlash from Democrats who have the power to stall everything in the Senate.

However, Virginia's own Senator George Allen along with Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania are pushing Frist to press the button and change the rules to destroy the filibuster.

Meanwhile, on April 24th Sen. Frist is heading to a "megachurch" in Kentucky to film a telecast organized by the Family Research Council portraying the filibuster as against people of faith. They're even going so far as saying that the filibuster was used to protect racial bias, justifying their cause.

I'm sorry, equating racism with blocking 10 far-right wing judge's nominations is far-fetched and shaky at best. All people of faith should be ashamed to bring in this obvious moral issue (racism) against the filibuster. All people of faith don't see the filibuster as bad. (See image ganked from NYT.)

Additionally, I believe Sen. Frist's attendance at this telecast sets a bad precedent and wholly intermixes church and state in a most improper way. The FRC plans to distribute this telecast for use in other churches to garner support in favor of using the nuclear option. Sen. John McCain seems to be the only level-headed Republican in saying he's against the option because Republicans are not always going to be in power. He also points out that the Judiciary Committee blocked several of President Clinton's nominations. Invoking the name of God for a power-grab and turning it into a "for us or against us" issue only embarrasses all Christians and distorts the true meaning of Christianity.

I will not submit to a political litmus test to determine whether I really am a Christian or not. All Virginians should be worried about Senator Allen's involvement and ponder what it means as he angles for a presidential run in 2008.